Turn up the Sun
by Part of the Queue
Summary: PRMF Challenge drabbles. 'Yellow Submarine' and 'Sometimes', 'Colours of a rainbow' extension.
1. Shield

This was a drabble written for the challenge community, mysticforce100, on livejournal. It is a combination of two challenges - to use the word cereal and to reference Harry Potter in some way. I may yet expand this past the 100 words.

I live in England and so haven't seen any episodes of Mystic Force yet, so if there are any terrible mistakesin either continuity or character personality, please let me know.

-Shield-

Everyone thinks he's weird. But he doesn't really mind.

Nobody bothers the kid who has four kinds of sugar on his cereal. Who wears a cape. Who wanted to play quidditch in gym class.

Nobody looks past the weirdness to see the little kid who tries _so_ hard to please his Uncle.

The kid who sometimes cries at night because he misses his parents.

The kid who still has nightmares about their deaths.

Not even his best friends see past it. He uses it as a shield, and it works, and everyone thinks he's weird.

But Chip doesn't really mind.


	2. Shield extension

This is a longer version of Shield (Chapter 1). Things in _italics_ are quotes, either from the show (at the start) or from Shield.

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Shield – extension.

"_If I remember correctly, you used to come to school with a pillowcase pinned to your back." __"Yeah. But that was a long time ago." _"_That was last week, mate."_

Okay, so maybe Xander has a point there.

But why shouldn't he wear a cape to school, just because it's not cool (hey that rhymes). His mom would have just laughed and ruffled his hair if he'd done that. That was the problem though, wasn't it? His mom wasn't there anymore, neither was his dad. He was living with his uncle, parents never to return.

Geeze how melodramatic did that sound!

But so what if he acted a little weird sometimes. Okay, most of the time. _Nobody bothers the kid who has four kinds of sugar on his cereal. _Especially when said weird kid has popular friends like Xander and Vida. Before he met them he used to get teased, not bullied, just teased, for having red hair. His parents used to call him 'Carrot top', a private nickname between the three of them, nobody calls him that any more. He misses it.

_Nobody looks past the weirdness to see the little kid who tries so hard to please his Uncle. The kid who sometimes cries at night because he misses his parents. The kid who still has nightmares about their deaths. _Those are the nights when he cries himself to sleep afterwards. He arrives to school late the next day, with slightly bloodshot eyes. Those are the days when he acts extra weird like being the one _who wears a cape. Who wanted to play quidditch in gym class._

If his friends have noticed they've never said anything. _Not even his best friends see past it_. Maybe they can't.

_He uses it as a shield, and it works, and everyone thinks he's weird ._Maybe he is weird, but it's gone on too long for him to stop now. It makes him feel good.

_Everyone thinks he's … weird. But Chip doesn't really mind._


	3. Again

It started with Madison and Vida, the day Madison was born.

It continued with Chip. The hyperactive boy sat on Madison's table, the teacher thought it would calm him down. It didn't. But they started talking and by lunchtime, they were best friends.

It went on with Xander, the popular new boy from Australia became Chip's lab-partner in middle-school. After he accepted the invitation to hang out, three best friends became four.

Nick didn't become an instant friend. He didn't seem to want to. But soon it happened again and four became five. Just in time to save the world.


	4. Again extension

Again extension. _Italics_ is quotes from the show or the original drabble. Week 2, song title at mysticforce100. Group fic.

_It started with_ the sisters, always a link between the fraternal twins even though they had been born at five minutes before and after midnight so Vida's birthday was technically the day before Madison's.

They had done everything together when they were kids, until they got put in separate classes and the 1st day of school.

A secretarial mix-up, corrected by midday, but they were separate long enough for a new friend to enter their group of two.

The teacher had put Chip on Madison's table, she _thought it would calm him down_. It didn't really work, but he got a smile out of Madison, which only grew when Vida returned. The three of them bonded immediately when Chip found out the girls were twins (which was cool), and the girls found out that Chip's uncle owned the farm where their mother bought her eggs.

The three musketeers (as their parents and teachers called them) stuck together through thick and thin, from Vida running away from home at aged eight (to live in a tent on the front lawn) to the death of Chip's parents and the custody battle between his Uncle and an Aunt from New York that he'd only ever met once.

When they were in middle school they met Xander. He moved in down the street from Vida and Madison. He was instantly _popular_ because of his accent, but didn't make any real friends until he _became Chip's lab-partner_. Chip offered to help him catch up on things he had missed and Xander ended up joining the trio for movie night and sleep over at the farm.

He was NOT impressed to be woken up by a cockerel at 6.30 am, and even less so when he found the girls had brought ear-plugs and Chip was already up doing chores.

However, despite this, Xander continued to hang out after school with the trio and woke up one morning to discover that he had made three best friends without realising it. They continued together through high school and got jobs together in a local music store.

Nick was different. He didn't want to be friends or even acquaintances. Xander tried to fill his role by leading the others, but in the end, Nick came back when they needed him.

It took a lot of time and work on all sides to integrate Nick into their group, Madison forgave him for calling her shy, Vida was impressed with his bike. Nick listened to Chip rather than brushing him off and Xander was impressed when Nick slept through the 6.30 cockerel without earplugs.

Eventually _four friends became five._

_Just in time to save the world._


	5. The Child is gone

The child is gone.

In its place is a young man with a hole in his heart, a rip in his soul.

A person who went to sleep a twelve year old boy and woke up a man, gasping for breath as he emerged.

The scent of smoke lingering on his clothes, in his hair, clogging his throat. Light dancing on his skin from the blaze before him.

The blaze that stole everything from him. His possessions, his parents, his childhood.

The blaze that made a hole in his heart and a rip in his soul.

The child is gone.


	6. The Child is gone extension

Child is gone extension._Italics_ is quotes from the show or the original drabble. Week 1, song title at mysticforce100.

M14mouse - the character is either Chip or Nick, I wrote the original drabble with Chip in mind, being that we know his parents are dead etc etc. Then when Iposted it on some people thought it was Nick because of the reference to flames. I'll leave it up to you to decide.

_The child is gone_, he's been gone for five years, replaced by a mask of childishness, he's not coming back.

The man that emerged from him knows this, has known this since he was twelve, since he woke to the smell of smoke. The smell _on his clothes, in his hair, clogging his throat,_ heavy in the air.

Smoke from the fire before him. A simple house fire, a fire that destroyed a child and created a man. _A young man with a hole in his heart, a rip in his soul._

He doesn't remember much of it, _the blaze that stole everything from him. His possessions, his parents, his childhood._

He remembers waking up gagging on the taste of smoke. He remembers a woman in a paramedic's jacket, holding an oxygen mask to his face.

He doesn't remember climbing out of his bedroom window in his pyjamas onto the roof of the kitchen below, then dropping to the yard. He remembers someone, dressed in black and yellow saying, "I'm sorry, we couldn't get them out in time".

He remembers the funeral but not the days before it, his Uncle's hand on his shoulder, an anchor in the storm his world had become.

He remembers the pain of his heart breaking, the warmth of tears on his face as he came across a singed photo of him and his parents in the ashes of his home, the only thing to survive. He remembers being held as he wept when he finally realised they were gone forever.

He doesn't remember more than flashes of the two weeks he spent in a daze, the worried glances cast by family and friends.

The pain is still there, he knows it always will be and even if it doesn't seem like it sometimes, the child he was has disappeared.

_The child is gone._


	7. Colours of a rainbow

Vida thinks that the colours suit the rangers that wear them.

Red – strength, power, determination, courage. This fits Nick, she can see that already.

Green – endurance, stability, hope, peace. To the boy who would rather talk than fight.

Blue – intellect, sincerity, faith, trust. To her sister, the first to reach out to the stranger in their midst.

Yellow – joy, honour, loyalty, energy. This IS Chip, he couldn't be anything else. Also meaning intellect, and Chip is smart, even if he lacks common sense.

Pink – passiveness, femininity. Not her, but it also means friendship, compassion, energy.

Maybe it does suit her after all.


	8. Colours of a rainbow extension

Colours of a rainbow extension.

Credit to M14Mouse for the idea in the paragraph beginning _But there's more to it than that._ It comes from the story 'Graveside' which is a Chip fic for anyone who is interested. Thankyou very much for the loan of the idea.

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PINK, of all the colours there ever was, why did she have to be pink! It's just so … girly.

All of the other rangers have colours that suit them, suit their personalities. She looked it up on the Internet once for a school project, the traditional meaning for each of the colours.

Nick is _red – strength, power, determination, courage._ This goes with him, there's a lot they don't know about the new guy, a lot he doesn't know about himself, but from what she's seen, the colour fits, he is all of the above and more.

Xander is _green – endurance, stability, hope, peace._ Green for peace-loving nature boy. He attends loads of talks on preserving the environment and similar things; he's dragged her to some of them too. He hates to fight, his parents are pacifists and it's brushed off on him. She will never forget him trying to talk to the 'Monster of the Day'.

Madison is _blue – intellect, sincerity, faith, trust._ How could her little sister (by ten minutes) be anything BUT all of this, underneath her quiet exterior lives a very intelligent and determined young woman, ready to open her heart to those who need it. The first to offer the proverbial olive branch to Nick when he arrived.

Chip is y_ellow – joy, honour, loyalty, energy._ Need she say more … seriously, Chip couldn't be any other colour, he is yellow personified. Yellow also means intellect, and Chip is smart, really smart, almost more so than Madison. The only thing he lacks is common sense.

And then there's her, Vida, _pink – passiveness, femininity._ You couldn't get girlier if you tried, and Vida does not do girly.

But there's more to it than that. Chip tricked her into admitting it by teasing her mercilessly about being the pink ranger until she snapped. She had chased him and pinned him to the ground before yelling something about pink being a totally worthy colour for a ranger. It had taken her a few moments to realise that he had tricked her into admitting that pink wasn't as bad as she made out (another example of Chip being smart).

The website she looked at didn't stop there though. Pink _also means friendship, compassion, energy._ That sounds more like her.

So she's pink, and _maybe it does suit her after all._

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Please review


	9. Best of me and She's a rebel

Two drabbles for you this week – 1st, 'Best of Me', Chip-centric, challenge c: lyric inspiration. 2nd, 'She's a Rebel', Vida-centric, challenge a: song title.

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He lives in a fantasy world.

A world with demons and dragons and heroes in shining armour with capes and swords.

He lives in a land that is all his, that no one else can disturb or destroy, because they can't enter. It protects him from the real world, from the death of parents and people's pity.

His friends glimpsed it sometimes, but didn't really _see_ until Udonna showed them. He's not sure if he should thank her for that.

Because now the two are merging, fantasy is becoming reality and he's having to face the things he hid from.

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**She's a rebel**  
Streaked hair that her parents didn't exactly approve of. Dj-ing in her spare time, one of the more unorthodox hobbies in school, topped only by Chip's archery.  
**She's a saint**  
A power ranger, even if she is pink. A force of good, battling the evil that threatens her town, fighting alongside her sister and best friends.  
**She's salt of the earth**  
To the world she's a rebel, to those who know her, she is compassionate and loyal. She won't let anything harm those she loves.  
**And she's dangerous**  
Watch out evil doers, the pink ranger's here.


	10. Best of Me extension

Best of me - extension.

Best of me was about Chip. This is the same 'Chip issue', but looking at how one of his friends sees it.

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When Xander first arrived in Briarwood, he found it hard to make real friends, he had plenty of fake ones, who liked him for his accent or because he was new. These were the ones who first told him about Chip.

"He hangs out with the twins, Vida and Madison." (Xander knew them, they lived down the road from him.)

"_He lives in a fantasy world, _dragons and the like, came to school last week wearing a cloak".

So when they first met, Xander already had a strong impression of Chip's strangeness, a few minutes together and that view was turned on its head, revised to a kid trying to protect himself from something.

When Xander started hanging out with Chip and his friends, he found out about Chip's parents, about how he had always been slightly weird, but had got worse after their deaths.

Xander knew that what showed on the outside was only a minute section of Chip's world, _his friends glimpsed it sometimes, _but they couldn't see it properly. _Until Udonna showed them._

The woman in white showed them a world that Xander knows is close to the one inside Chip's head, he could see it on his best friends face. He isn't sure this is a good thing.

Xander watches Chip's two worlds collide as _fantasy is becoming reality_. And as reality emerges, so are the things Chip has hid from for so long.

Xander knows that one of these days, Chip is going to explode, or implode or something-plode, with trying to deal with everything alone. And he knows that when that happens, he'll be there to pick up the pieces.

Because Chip was the first real friend he found.


	11. Oh rain

Madison's POV. Promt - rain.

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_Oh rain, oh rain, Beautiful rain,_

_Don't desert me, beautiful rain._

_Oh come, never come,_

_Oh come, never come,_

_Come to me, beautiful rain._

Madison always liked watching the rain, even when she was little, she would just tune her sister out and sit there for hours watching it fall.

Now she had control of water, she enjoyed it even more, taking time out of her schedule, just to watch.

Watching it cleanse everything, wash away the evil of those they fought.

It was vital, without it, nothing would survive.

It was clean and pure.

She liked watching it fall.


	12. Another Story

I know it has been ages since I posted 1 of these, but today you get 2! This could be from anyone's POV, its kinda cynical though.

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In the end, it's just another story. For the newspapers. For the websites.

The public see the battles; some of them call us heroes, and some call us a threat. They don't see what we sacrifice to keep them safe.

Little things like having to cancel dates, spending less time with our families, but big things too. Chip hasn't been to the archery range since this started. Madison hasn't finished a film.

To them, the battles are just another event, a distraction to the repetitiveness of their lives.They don't see the bruises and the scars.

It's just another story.

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	13. Yellow Submarine

Chip laughed as he watched Vida chasing Xander around Rockporium.  
She had been Dj-ing, when 'Yellow Submarine' had started to blare out of the speakers, which had then led to the chasing.

_As we live a life of ease  
Everyone of us has all we need  
Sky of blue and sea of green  
In our yellow submarine_

Chip had always liked that song, not just because it was about his favourite colour.  
He didn't remember much about his parents anymore, but he remembered his mom leaning over to tuck him in at night, smelling of roses and singing that tune.


	14. Fathers Son

2nd drabble of the day, this one is from the POV of Chip's Uncle and is based on the promotional material that said Chip's parents were dead and he lives with his Uncle. I picked a name at random for his Uncle, I think its the same as Luke Skywaker's uncle ...

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Chip doesn't really remember his father; he was too young when he died.

But Chip's Uncle Owen remembers him; they were brothers. How could he not?

It's a shock sometimes, when he comes in from the farm and sees Chip, lounging about on the sofa or cooking dinner, and the light hits his face at just the right angle, and Owen catches a glimpse of his long dead sibling.

Chip is an almost exact replica of his father, apart from his eyes, and sometimes Owen can do nothing but stand and stare at the boy.

He is his Father's son.

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Please review


	15. Sometimes

Sometimes it feels like he's falling.

The world is on the shoulders of him and his friends.  
They have their roles in the team, the leader, the carer, the brooder, the peace-maker, the comic-relief.  
But sometimes it's so hard to fit the role he's in.

Sometimes he feels as though he has lost his grip on reality and been dragged into a world where the heroes are invincible, when really they're not. The bruises and near misses attest to that.

Sometimes he feels like he won't, can't, fill his role, he'll let the world down.

It feels like falling.


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